Sergei Prokofiev

We’re back at the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden for this week’s Sunday Opera (7/26 3:00 p.m.) and Modest Mussorgsky’s only completed opera “Boris Godunov” which had its world premiere in 1871 after being rejected in 1870 because it had no female roles. Mussorgsky rewrote the opera, and when it was staged, it used the recycled sets and costumes from Pushkin’s play (written in blank verse) which had premiered in 1870.

This week’s Sunday Opera (7/12 3:00 p.m.) heads off to the Paris Opera for one of the world’s favorite operas, “Aida” by Giuseppe Verdi. With a libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, it was initially commissioned by the Khedivial Opera House in Cairo for an 1871 premiere. Quickly becoming an audience favorite, the opera has played around the world and has even played over 1,100 performances at the Metropolitan Opera since its debut in 1886.

We’re staying in Beijing for another production from the National Center for the Performing Arts on this week’s Sunday Opera (11/24 3:00 p.m.). This week, it’s an original commission combining Chinese and Western musical idioms in a story based on a popular folksong from the early 20th Century by composer Zhang Quianyi entitled “Lan Huahua” which follows the unfortunate story of a resilient young woman in feudal China from a bizarrely arranged marriage through to her tragic end.

This week's Sunday Opera features two lesser-known works by Sergei Prokofiev. The first is a comic opera entitled "Betrothal in a Monastery," and the second is the short "Maddalena."

This weeks' Sunday Opera is actually two one-act operas by George Benjamin followed by a grand ballet, We'll begin with "Picture a Day Like This" followed by a retelling of "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" entitled "Into the Little Hill." After the opera, we turn to Prokofiev and his delightful ballet "Cinderella."

Two sides of Sergei Prokofiev will be featured on this week’s Sunday Opera (4/29 3:00 p.m.) in the form of his dramatic tragedy “The Fiery Angel” and his…